Earlier in day, Jitu was impressive to qualify for the finals. If Jitu is making his Olympics debut, Bindra will perhaps be in his last and fifth Summer Games and he would like to bow out on a high.
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China’s Li Du topped the qualification with a sublime 420.7, setting up an Olympic record in the process. He qualified for the quarter finals by finishing third in his heat in men’s singles sculls.
Chandela shot an overall 411.6 to finish 34th out 51 competitors while Paul ended further down at 47th place with a total score of 403.
Jitu, who once looked out of finals contention with 20 out of the 60 allotted shots remaining, rallied brilliantly at the back end with a flurry of inner 10s to qualify 6th with a score of 580.
From a relatively unknown name, Rai hit the spotlight in 2014 when he won three World Cup medals in a span of nine days, starting with silver in 50 metre pistol at Munich. Paul, who is also 23, had won an Olympic quota with a silver in the Asian Olympic Qualifying Competition in January. He continued his nervous performance in the final as well.
However, his form dipped in the first three shots as he shot only 28.9 to slip into a lonely last spot in the final. He then shot a 9.7 and narrowed the gap over the next few shots. The 28-year-old continued to struggle with his next couple of shots as the shooters at the top of the pack continued to churn out consistent above 10 attempts.
On the brink of elimination with an overall score of 68.6, Jitu managed a 10.1 but it was not enough to keep him in the competition.
Manika Batra crashes out of the table tennis women’s singles as she loses to her Polish opponent Grzybowska-Franc Katarzyna 2-4.
World No.73 Sharath fought hard in all of the five games but the 36-year-old world No.90 of Romania was up to the challenge.
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Sopita Tanasan of Thailand won the gold with a total lift of 200 kilograms, Sri Wahyuni Agustiani of Indonesia clinched the silver with 192 kilograms while Japan’s Hiromi Miyake (188 kilograms) took the bronze.
